Joy as teenager wins travel claim

Jubilation that a Wiltshire teenager's £30,000 medical costs will now be paid by her travel insurers, despite their original refusal and fears she would have to sell her pony, was balanced by a fresh warning to holidaymakers this week.

"It is a standard exclusion on most travel insurance policies that claims may be invalidated if medical treatment is needed as a result of excess alcohol consumption or drug abuse," said Malcolm Tarling of the Association of British Insurers.

Sarah Webster, 18, of Cricklade, Wilts, fell 30ft from a hotel balcony in Marmaris, Turkey, on to paving slabs, fracturing both thigh bones, her wrists and her skull. Miss Webster, who works as an administrator for Nationwide Building Society, had bought travel insurance from the Post Office.

Allegations by Turkish doctors that alcohol was involved in the acccident led Fortis, which underwrites Post Office travel insurance policies, to refuse the claim last week.

Miss Webster, who remained in hospital in Marmaris on Thursday this week, had also obtained a form E111, which her family claim was stamped at her local Post Office despite her stating her holiday destination was Turkey.

Form E111 provides reciprocal free state healthcare in European Union countries - but Turkey is not a member of the EU.

With hospital fees mounting in Marmaris and an air ambulance needed to get her home to Britain, total medical costs are expected to reach £30,000. By Tuesday this week, Miss Webster's family faced the agonising prospect of having to sell her beloved showjumping pony, Izzey.

When money.telegraph rang Fortis, a Belgium-based insurer which hit the headlines in 2001 after a motorist it had insured caused the Selby rail crash, it refused to discuss the case and referred questions to the Post Office.

A spokesman for the Post Office said on Tuesday: "The Data Protection Act means we cannot discuss this but it is standard practice for underwriters to have a dialogue with doctors who have been treating a person who makes a claim for medical treatment.

"Where the doctors' report does not recommend that a claim is valid, it would not meet our terms and conditions. Our exclusions section includes being under the influence of alcohol, solvents or drugs - except drugs prescribed by a doctor, other than for the treatment of drug abuse."

Mr Tarling, of the Association of British Insurers, emphasised that such exclusions are standard - but rarely applied. He said: "It would be stupid for insurers to say people cannot enjoy a drink when they are on holiday; all we are asking is for a bit of moderation.

"I do not know if insurers commonly invoke this exclusion but I can say that in 15 years in this industry I am only aware of two cases where alcohol has been an issue when refusing a claim.

"That is, this one and another where a man came came back to his hotel at 3am and dived into the swimming pool to discover there was no water in it. In those circumstances, it is not unreasonable for the insurer to wonder what that man was doing, face down in the empty pool at 3am."

In the entirely separate and unrelated case of the claim against the Post Office, its spokesman said on Tuesday: "The underwriters have said that, based on the doctors' report, they cannot underwrite the claim. As an act of compassion, we are happy to fly Miss Webster back by air ambulance, when she is well enough to leave hospital, but we cannot validate her medical costs."

The spokesman refused to discuss the form E111 which Miss Webster's family claimed had been issued and stamped in error, potentially creating a duty of care on the part of the Post Office. It might be argued that its staff should have told Miss Webster that form E111 is no use for holidays outside the EU.

The Department of Health said: "Travellers to Turkey are not covered by the arrangements set out in the E111 form.

"We would remind travellers that they should take out adequate travel insurance before they go abroad."

Then, on Thursday, the Post Office issued a statement: "We can report that the Ahu Hetman clinic has amended their report on Sarah's condition.

"Post Office has always stated that it would ask its underwriters to review the case if new information was forthcoming from the hospital doctors.

"As a result of this new information, Post Office, in conjunction with its underwriters, has taken the view that the travel insurance policy that Sarah had is now fully valid. We are very pleased for Sarah and her family that the policy will now cover her medical bills in full."